It has been a completely crazy week. Thank goodness, however, that the worst of it is behind me. I was so nervous about my thesis defence, and I had a huge job to complete for a client that had to be finished by Thursday. Now I can collapse in a heap.
The viva on Wednesday went well. No thanks to me - I blathered on like an idiot and waved my arms about so much that I knocked things off my examiner's desk. I am definitely better at written communication, as blog readers who have met me in 'real' life will no doubt attest. It must have made sense overall, however, because I have been awarded the MFA with High Distinction. Hooray! BestFriendAlly has some suggestions over here as to what that might mean. (While I'm on the subject of BestFriendAlly, I'd also like to direct you to the post where she converted my cat Mink into a fearsome Transformer robot).
I went thrifting today to celebrate, but held back a little as I'm going to be spending the day with visiting blogger Scribbles on Monday, and I need to save some pennies! Also need to save for our trip, which is only three weeks away. Equal parts terrifying and exciting. I can't believe I'm going to be meeting with my publisher in London - it still seems unreal.
I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask you all, if you don't mind:
1) Are there any bloggers in the UK who would like to meet up for a coffee or the like? I'm staying in Christchurch, Dorset (and yes, that is why my family decided to move to Christchurch, NZ out of all the possible cities. Very logical reasoning there), but I'll be in London as well, and I'm sure I'll be venturing further afield.
2) LOML and I have decided to hop over to Berlin for a few days. We've never been, and we would love some recommendations of places to go and things to see.
Thank you!
Showing posts with label MFA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MFA. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Friday the 13th
I always wince when I have to print out a copy of my book. Hundreds of pages! Not only bad for the environment, but also bad for the wallet, as our printer cartridge always seems to run out when I'm printing manuscripts. Those things are seriously expensive. But, it is necessary. I am a very visual person, as evidenced by the Amazing Wall of Post-its. So, as I write scenes that need to be added into the New Improved Book and cut scenes that need to die, I have to see some physical representation of those processes. Printing it out seemed a good idea, and I started this morning. Of course, halfway through printing, our cartridge ran out. And we are broke. So I yelled at the printer for a while, then did a sort of angry hopping dance around the house. Now I am annoyed and working on-screen until pay-day, when we can get a new cartridge. It's just not the same!
I found a good article on revising your novel by Holly Lisle. I particularly liked this part:
"When you finally finish the first draft of your novel, the temptation to just print it, box it, and start it on its rounds can be almost overwhelming. By the time you've written anywhere from 90,000 to 150,000 words, you can be pretty tired of the storyline, the characters, the plots and subplots, and you're generally itching to start that new project, too -- the one that started creeping into your dreams three or four months ago and that has now become almost an obsession."
Very true, and it's hard to take time away from my new project to dive back into the old one. Especially since it's such a daunting task. I have already cut about 10,000 words from the novel, and I'm just getting started. Whole scenes have to be added in. Whole sections have to be rewritten. The chronology of the book is changing completely. It's going to be an almost completely different book, in lots of ways - but still the same, in the way an axe would still be the same axe, theoretically, even if you replaced the head and the handle.
Being me, I need a deadline by which to complete the revisions. Holly Lisle says she does it in one or two weeks. I don't think I'm there yet. I'm giving myself one month - till 13 March. Which my calendar tells me is also Friday 13th. Is this a good omen or a bad one? I choose to think good. I am a little freaked out because I'm not sure when the oral examination part of my Masters will be, or what client work will come up in the next few weeks (the cursed unpredictability of freelancing!), but then my natural state isn't far from freaked out anyway.This weekend's job is to complete the new outline. I've started writing down long lists of notes on all the changes, but I want to go through chapter by chapter and write a summary of what happens in each. Wish me luck!
On the plus side, the Masters thesis (book plus supplementary essay) is all handed in. It will be ready to pick up from the Registry next week, and I have to cough up $40 for the privilege of having the university print and bind it. You think after paying thousands of dollars for the fees that they would throw in the binding for free. That would be nice.
I completely recommend reading that Holly Lisle piece if you're at the same stage in your novel as I am - it's ridiculously helpful. And it gives you permission to go out and buy lots of fun stationery, which is one of my favourite things to do.
I found a good article on revising your novel by Holly Lisle. I particularly liked this part:
"When you finally finish the first draft of your novel, the temptation to just print it, box it, and start it on its rounds can be almost overwhelming. By the time you've written anywhere from 90,000 to 150,000 words, you can be pretty tired of the storyline, the characters, the plots and subplots, and you're generally itching to start that new project, too -- the one that started creeping into your dreams three or four months ago and that has now become almost an obsession."
Very true, and it's hard to take time away from my new project to dive back into the old one. Especially since it's such a daunting task. I have already cut about 10,000 words from the novel, and I'm just getting started. Whole scenes have to be added in. Whole sections have to be rewritten. The chronology of the book is changing completely. It's going to be an almost completely different book, in lots of ways - but still the same, in the way an axe would still be the same axe, theoretically, even if you replaced the head and the handle.
Being me, I need a deadline by which to complete the revisions. Holly Lisle says she does it in one or two weeks. I don't think I'm there yet. I'm giving myself one month - till 13 March. Which my calendar tells me is also Friday 13th. Is this a good omen or a bad one? I choose to think good. I am a little freaked out because I'm not sure when the oral examination part of my Masters will be, or what client work will come up in the next few weeks (the cursed unpredictability of freelancing!), but then my natural state isn't far from freaked out anyway.This weekend's job is to complete the new outline. I've started writing down long lists of notes on all the changes, but I want to go through chapter by chapter and write a summary of what happens in each. Wish me luck!
On the plus side, the Masters thesis (book plus supplementary essay) is all handed in. It will be ready to pick up from the Registry next week, and I have to cough up $40 for the privilege of having the university print and bind it. You think after paying thousands of dollars for the fees that they would throw in the binding for free. That would be nice.
I completely recommend reading that Holly Lisle piece if you're at the same stage in your novel as I am - it's ridiculously helpful. And it gives you permission to go out and buy lots of fun stationery, which is one of my favourite things to do.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Butterflies and other developments
I have permanent butterflies in my stomach these days. I think I am going to have to name them. There is one called Stanley who tends to look on the dark side of things - he says, "It may all seem like good news, but what about ..." and then proceeds to list all the problems. And there's one called Oswald who jumps about going "Ohmygosh ohmygosh," is a bit over-excitable, and refuses to see any potential drawbacks in a situation. He's just too damn excited.
All that rambling basically means that I am feeling nervous and excited about the book. All the time.
I emailed my advisor this morning, asking if I can start approaching publishers before the book is officially submitted and marked. His email response was titled "Yesyesyes" and went on to say "the sooner the better." He gave me the email address of the writer-in-residence at the university, who has a UK agent, and I sent her a message asking if I could make a meeting time to chat about the publishing process. In a best-case scenario, I may even be able to get a referral to her agent ... but whatever happens, it will be so nice having someone to hold my hand (metaphorically, of course) through the scary finding-an-agent process. I freaked myself out this morning by looking through agent websites and reading all the statistics - how few authors actually get accepted, and after how many hundreds of attempts. Sometimes the Internet is more of a hindrance than a help (same thing applies when you're sick and look up your symptoms - bad idea).
I also emailed another writer friend today - she has published two novels in NZ so far - and asked about the agent thing. She also recommended getting an agent in the UK. So I think the magic 8-ball of opinion is pointing towards England as the best place for publication.
All that rambling basically means that I am feeling nervous and excited about the book. All the time.
I emailed my advisor this morning, asking if I can start approaching publishers before the book is officially submitted and marked. His email response was titled "Yesyesyes" and went on to say "the sooner the better." He gave me the email address of the writer-in-residence at the university, who has a UK agent, and I sent her a message asking if I could make a meeting time to chat about the publishing process. In a best-case scenario, I may even be able to get a referral to her agent ... but whatever happens, it will be so nice having someone to hold my hand (metaphorically, of course) through the scary finding-an-agent process. I freaked myself out this morning by looking through agent websites and reading all the statistics - how few authors actually get accepted, and after how many hundreds of attempts. Sometimes the Internet is more of a hindrance than a help (same thing applies when you're sick and look up your symptoms - bad idea).
I also emailed another writer friend today - she has published two novels in NZ so far - and asked about the agent thing. She also recommended getting an agent in the UK. So I think the magic 8-ball of opinion is pointing towards England as the best place for publication.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Lists and such
Right, LOML's back, and I feel like I can relax and get stuck into my work again. Here's the plan:
1) Finish secret-project-that-I-don't-want-to-jinx by Friday. And email my advisor asking if I can start approaching publishers before the novel has been officially marked for the MFA.
2) Next week, finish the final revisions of the novel. LOML gave me a couple of great points to think about after his reading - I'm lucky to be married to someone who is a very good unofficial editor/proofreader. And I still haven't addressed the last points my advisor made. So that will keep me busy for the whole week. Also, I need to hand in aforesaid secret project by that Friday.
3) In the first week of September, I'm going to seriously tackle the supplementary essay.
And then I will be DONE with the Masters, and I will have a big party and get very drunk. No, actually I'll save the big party for when I get a publisher.
(Maybe we could have two parties?)
1) Finish secret-project-that-I-don't-want-to-jinx by Friday. And email my advisor asking if I can start approaching publishers before the novel has been officially marked for the MFA.
2) Next week, finish the final revisions of the novel. LOML gave me a couple of great points to think about after his reading - I'm lucky to be married to someone who is a very good unofficial editor/proofreader. And I still haven't addressed the last points my advisor made. So that will keep me busy for the whole week. Also, I need to hand in aforesaid secret project by that Friday.
3) In the first week of September, I'm going to seriously tackle the supplementary essay.
And then I will be DONE with the Masters, and I will have a big party and get very drunk. No, actually I'll save the big party for when I get a publisher.
(Maybe we could have two parties?)
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